Sacramento 2018

Juniors in the Galileo Health Academy will travel to Sacramento on March 14th to advocate for health legislation that is promoted by the American Heart Association. The legislation is designed to make our California communities healthier. Over the last ten years GHA students were instrumental in passing bills into law that provide 500 million dollars to Physical Education programs in California schools, require hospitals to test newborn babies for a fatal heart disease, and the passing of California’s landmark 2016 Tobacco Prevention Policies, along with many other bills. Students use the professionalism skills developed in their health academy class, communication skills developed in English and their knowledge of the health bills they are promoting to become the change agent working to make California healthier for everybody.

Bills:

More information will be provided as we move closer to the March 14th trip. This year we will be advocating for the following bills.

A bill that requires milk or water as an option in all kids meals from restaurants.

Funding for a Hypertension (high blood pressure) prevention program

Resources for childcare programs that establish standards for:

Physical activity

Screen time standards

Nutrition standards.

Logistics:

Please read the following carefully:

We will be pulling away from the curb at 7:30am We need to leave at this time to arrive on time and to avoid the morning traffic log jam. By leaving at 7:30 we decrease the chance of sitting in traffic for 2 hours. Arrive by 7:00am

We are scheduled to return by 4:30pm. There is always a chance we could get stuck in traffic. If you work that day, anticipate the possibility of a delay and plan accordingly.

The AHA will provide a morning snack when we arrive and they will provide a lunch.

Dress professionally. You will be interacting with the most powerful people in California trying to convince them of the merits of a bill. You need to come across as professional.

It might be cold or it might be hot. It is usually warm. Bring a jacket incase it is cold.

When we arrive in Sacramento you will have the opportunity to use the bathroom in the capital building before our program begins. Do this immediately upon arrival because it takes time to get through security to use the bathroom.

Leave your phone on and on vibrate the whole day. We need to be able to find you on a moments notice and you don’t want your phone to go off when you are talking with a senator.

I am excited about our trip. It is a unique opportunity to bring about positive change. You can also put this on your resume and personal statement. It looks really good to have the following in your resume:

“I advocated for health legislation at the Sacramento State Capital on behalf of the American Heart Association to make California healthier for all.”

And if the bill passes, you can say:

The bills we passed established health standards in daycare centers.

The bills we passed established programs that addressed Hypertension.

The bills we passed require restaurants to offer milk and water as choices in their kids meals.